Competing at Grays Harbor College on Friday, Dec. 11, the Ocosta High School Knowledge Bowl team swept the top two spots, holding off two teams from Hoquiam and Montesano. The number one team remains undefeated for the year, while the second team moved up from third to second in this meet.
Daniel and Sam Quinby, Drake Mitby, and Alexi Most brought home their second championship. They were able to hold off the Ocosta team of Liz Allton, Emily Bjornsgard, Matthew Clark, Tom Perrette, and Peter Samuelson in both the preliminary and final rounds. The two teams swapped positions throughout the day, but it was again the underclassmen that prevented the seniors from winning the title.
Hoquiam teams placed third and sixth. They had missed the previous meet. Meanwhile, Montesano finished fourth and fifth this time. Other schools competing were South Bend, Wishkah, Naselle, North Beach, Valley and Elma.
This meet was much closer than the first. Ocosta’s top team finished with 88 points, the second team had 85, and Hoquiam 80. In the finals, Hoquiam answered the first question, but would not answer another one until the 20th question. Meanwhile, the Ocosta seniors had pulled ahead 5-3-1. Then, it was the seniors that hit a dry spell, falling into a tie with the underclassmen, while Hoquiam pulled out in front 7-6-6.
Fortunately for the Cats, Hoquiam closed out the meet without another correct answer. The underclass team would hold on to edge the seniors and Hoquiam, 11-9-7.
The teams participated in their final competition today at Grays Harbor College. Results will be posted in next week’s issue of the South Beach Bulletin.